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Complete proof that Instagram is an endless circle of self-referential meta-ness

Molly McHugh
By

real life instagram instagrams rli
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Artist Bruno Ribeiro has transformed London into a series of real life Instagrams. Armed with cardboard cut-outs and translucent plastic, he’s decorated the city with the interactive project. We use Instagram to put a personal touch on the things we see, adding our own flair to the usual with the app’s filters.

The real life representations of this are attracting a lot of attention, and to make things all the more meta, users are photographing them and – naturally – uploading them to Instagram.

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Here are the best examples of the Real Life Instagram project being Instagrammed by Instagrammers.

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The #reallifeinstagram featuring @adrubens – great creative project

A post shared by Joe Watts (@joewattsdesign) on

#reallifeinstagram

A post shared by Nıkıta Rvachev (@rvnikita) on

Of course, this isn’t the first time someone created “real life Instagrams.” A year ago, one user Instagrammed a series of similar photos.

#reallifeinstagram #original

A post shared by @michellerial on

#instagramcostume

A post shared by @michellerial on

#instagramcostume

A post shared by @michellerial on

A post shared by @michellerial on

And of course, this year Beyonce inspired one of the most popular, digital age-referential costumes – and it made many a reappearance on Halloween.

Instagrammer ???? @paulmichio & Angel ????????????✨ #Halloween

A post shared by Monrawee Wongfan ???? (@nookmonrawee_w) on

@nicolealison612 @oliviaccurtis #halloween2013 #haunted #mario #luigi #instagramcostume #ill

A post shared by I Live Life (ILL)® brand (@ilivelifeill) on

If you think too hard about this trend, it becomes mind-numbing: Creating costumes and filters referencing Instagram and then Instagramming them … effectively creating “fake” Instagrams of “real life” Instagrams. Actually, this probably proves we don’t know what real life even is anymore, and it’s time to start keeping an eye out for Instagrams of people Instagramming “real” Instagrams.

Oh wait …

That already happened.

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Molly McHugh
Molly McHugh
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Before coming to Digital Trends, Molly worked as a freelance writer, occasional photographer, and general technical lackey…
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